Mogwai – Eternal Panther

If I heard Eternal Panther and didn’t know it was Mogwai, I would never have guessed it to be Mogwai. I would have thought, OK, this is totally a Dinosaur Jr rip off, maybe mixed up with some New Order. But that said a pretty rip off. I mean it sounds good and it’s quite memorable. But still the similarity to Dinosaur Jr evergreens is copied to the smallest details. The laid back distorted beats and even the wah guitar solo could have been taken off a Dinosaur Jr album.

So what is it with Mogwai ?. Are they trying to make a radio friendly indie pop album or what’s going on. Eternal Panther and Party In The Dark is really a warning of the coming album. It makes me curious though what’s gonna happen on the full album. I’m not super happy about this development. I think we’re pretty far from highlights like Rock Action, Happy Songs For Happy People and Hardcore.

Bands develop and Mogwai obviously also develops, both artistically and as persons. Hence also in what inspires you. It seems a lot like Mogwai want to try a new ballgame, and by all means do that. But please try not to plagiate this obvious.

Post-rock, nah who listens to post-rock

If you’re longing for the next cool post-rock album from Mogwai, then it’s probably not gonna be this one, but who knows, maybe these singles are just the radio cash.

Bottomline is. Eternal Panther is pretty decent and has good melodies and for that alone it’s way better than Party In The Dark. It’s an ok song to listen to, but it’s neither innovative or long lasting, it’s a glimpse. I hope Mogwai will release something that feels more like Mogwai than this soon.

Another thing. I think the vocals are mediocre and it fit’s way better with mogwai when they’re vocoded to hell or whispered.